Politics and the 2025 Programme for Government

I am delighted to take on the maternity cover post as Policy Manager at the Law Society of Scotland. Having been in and around the Scottish public policy and public affairs arena for 20 years, I’ve always admired the Law Society’s contribution to Scotland’s critical and, at times, complex policy discourse.

Public policy professionals look forward to a number of events over the course of a parliamentary year: committee evidence sessions and chamber debates on topics of interest, Programmes for Government, Budgets and elections. There may be a couple more depending on taste, but these are mine and I consider myself very fortunate to be working at this highly regarded organisation at this time.

Since taking up post, and in addition to supporting the Access to Justice and Legal Aid Committees, I have watched the Scottish Programme for Government 2025-26, started work on our Election Priorities for the Scottish Parliament Election in May 2026, and will look forward to Budget no5. There is a lot to keep me busy.

Programme for Government: What Lies Ahead?

Policy people like myself find events such as last week's Programme for Government (PfG) delivered by First Minister, John Swinney MSP, extremely useful. They provide an opportunity for us to take stock of how well we are influencing, see where political discourse is heading, and plan our own work programme for the future.

Prior to the PfG announcement, the Government announced that three Bills previously included in the legislative programme will be cut:

• Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Bill
• Misogyny (Scotland) Bill
• Ending Conversion Practices (Scotland) Bill

Conversely, the PfG outlined Government commitments to:

• introduce six new Bills – including the Children and Young People (Care) (Scotland) Bill;
• carry two Bills over from the previous legislative programme – including the Crofting and Scottish Land Court (Scotland) Bill; and
• progress 14 Bills currently in consideration by Parliament – including the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill, Criminal Justice Modernisation and Abusive Domestic Behaviour Reviews (Scotland) Bill, Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill, and Land Reform (Scotland) Bill.

It’s a lot of work for the Policy Team and our network of committee volunteers, and it’s a lot of work for the Parliament. Given the social, economic and political turbulence at a global level – of which Scotland is not immune – it will be interesting to see if all these Bills cross the finish line by this Parliamentary Session’s COP. The Scottish Government has certainly given themselves a lot do in a short space of time.

Naturally, the policy team have assessed the PfG and began planning for the work year ahead, and how we can influence the development of good law.

A standout non-legislative commitment in the PfG was to “Take forward actions set out in the recently published Legal Aid Reform Discussion Paper – including bringing forward regulations to simplify the judicare system.” We were quite underwhelmed by the Scottish Government’s Discussion Paper, believing that the paper’s measures fall short of what’s needed. However, political and media attention in legal aid is growing, and this is covered in more detail below.

Election Priorities: Making Cases for Good Law and Policy

The Law Society of Scotland has a long history of positive electoral influence in Scotland.

A year from now, Scotland will have a new Government (party or parties of Government TBC) and, going by recent polling, a new – and quite different – parliamentary chamber.

Between now and then we will develop and publish an Election Priorities document. This document will outline what can be done, legislatively and from Government policy perspective, in the next Parliamentary session to ensure good law making, and a fairer and more just society.

We use these documents to engage and influence political parties, and work has already started in the development of the election priorities document for 2026.

It is too early to say exactly what will be our Election Priorities, but a member survey and Committee discussions have already given us a strong flavour of what members would like to see come out of the Scottish Parliament from 2026 to 2031.

Legal Aid: A Growing and Going Concern

I have been in post seven weeks, and several times a week the issue of legal aid comes up in conversation.

If I detailed all the issues with legal aid, this blog would comprise of nothing else. Rest assured, legal aid will be included in the aforementioned Election Priorities document. I have already mentioned the Government’s Legal Aid Discussion paper, and in May alone, we have provided two parliamentary committees with oral evidence on legal aid, as well as a number of meetings with Government Minister and departmental officials on the subject of legal aid. You can see all our work to date on legal aid (and other issues), and can also join our campaign #legalaidmatters.

All this said, I think there is reason to be cautiously optimistic for positive change with legal aid over the course of the coming year and post-election. It is an issue that is rising up the parliamentary agenda, and we will work persistently to ensure this trend continues.